June Bacon-Bercey is a pioneer in the field of meteorology, becoming the first Black woman to earn a degree in the science in the ’50’s. She is also an internationally recognized expert in aviation and weather, and is the first woman and African-American woman to win the American Meteorological Society’s “seal of approval” honor for television weather broadcasting.

Bacon-Bercey was born on October 23, 1932, and raised in Wichita, Kan. The future weatherwoman earned her undergraduate degree in 1954 from the University of Kansas and her master’s degree from UCLA. As an engineer, she worked for several organizations on the federal level including the National Weather Service and the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

Bacon-Bercey became a television broadcaster in Buffalo, N.Y., and worked in the role throughout the ’70’s. Her work as a broadcaster drew attention as she was one of the few Black weather broadcasters of the era. She inherited the job after her predecessor, reportedly an alcoholic disc jockey, was arrested for holding up a local bank. In 1979, she become a top official for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Among Bacon-Bercy’s numerous contributions to science and society is a meteorology lab she helped establish at Jackson State University. She also created an annual scholarship via the American Geophysical Union. NASA has also recognized Bacon-Bercey as a Minority Pioneer for Achievement in Atmospheric Sciences.

A story that has followed Bacon-Bercey is how she funded the aforementioned scholarship. Bacon-Bercey was a contestant on The $128,000 Question, winning the top prize. According to reports, she gifted the money because she understood the challenges facing women interested in her career path who needed financial assistance.

Now 84, Bacon-Bercey has been honored by Howard University for her scientific contributions and in later years, she even become a substitute teacher in California’s San Mateo County Schools system.

Doris A, Miller, later known as Dorie (thank goodness) was Mess Attendant Second Class ( a cook) in the U.S. Navy.

On the morning of the Pearl Harbor attack, 75 years ago, , Dorie Miller was completing extra duties as a room steward, providing wake up services to officers, doing their laundry, shining their shoes and making their beds.

When the alarm went off letting him know it was time to head to his battle station, the USS West Virginia was under attack by more than 200 Japanese torpedo planes.

Six foot 3 inch, 200-pound Dorie Miller was ordered to carry injured shipmates to a more protected part of the ship. He also tried to aid the ship’s wounded captain but the captain refused to leave his post.

Afterwards, Dorie Miller was ordered to help load the ship’s anti-aircraft machine guns, HOWEVER, instead of just loading them, Dorie Miller began firing at the Japanese torpedo planes.

On April 1. 1942, Dorie Miller received a medal of honor for his bravery and for going beyond the call of duty.

Last year, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson held a fundraiser to raise money for a Dorie A. Miler Memorial.

Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is currently the Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Since 1970, Judge Armstrong has made epic strides in her career both as a policewoman and as an attorney with a couple of historic achievements along the way.

Mrs. Armstrong was born in 1947 in Oakland, Calif. as the second oldest of her parents’ five children. According to Armstrong’s accounts, education was a priority in their household along with good values and character.

Armstrong graduated from Northern California’s Merritt College in 1967 with an associate degree, obtaining her bachelor’s degree two years later from California State University, Fresno. That following year, Armstrong entered the Oakland Police Academy and became the Oakland Police Department’s first Black female officer. She was just one of seven other women who made the force.

After leaving law enforcement in 1977, Armstrong earned her J.D. From the University of San Francisco School of Law. Armstrong then became the first Black female prosecutor in California’s Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She worked in several high-profile judicial positions from that point on, including serving as the Alameda County’s Deputy District Attorney for several years.

On June 21, 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Armstrong to serve on the bench of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She maintains a robust weekly schedule at the Oakland Courthouse and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Dr. Theodore Lawless was a pioneering dermatologist and philanthropist whose study of troubling skin diseases made him an international figure. Dr. Lawless’ used his fame and fortune to embark upon other endeavors and he became a shrewd businessman in addition to his medical practice.

Theodore Kenneth Lawless was born on this day in 1892 in Thibodeaux, La. before moving to New Orleans with his minister father and mother. The future dermatologist obtained his undergraduate degree in 1914 from Talladega College and then worked towards his medical degree at Northwestern University, graduating in 1919. Lawless completed a graduate dermatology course at New York’s Columbia University.

In the ’20’s, Lawless opened his dermatology practice at a South Side Chicago location. Despite being nestled in a predominately African-American community, word of Lawless’ practice spread about the country. He was one of the first dermatologists to specifically target his treatment of syphilis and other extreme skin conditions using a technique called electropyrexia. This would lead to Lawless treating a wide range of patients across racial and economic demographics.

Lawless used his time at Northwestern University as a professor to establish some of the school’s first medical laboratories. It was also a base for Lawless to study and teach the treatment of leprosy and sporotrichosis, and he studied under some of the world’s finest in his field in a bid to hone his skills.

While science and medicine became Lawless’ hallmark, he was also quite generous with his earnings. In fact, his philanthropy extended heavily towards the Jewish community and to historically Black colleges and universities across the South. Lawless was also involved in finance and real estate investments, serving as president of the Service Federal Savings and Loan Association in Chicago.

In 1957, Lawless gifted $160,000 to the Beilinson Hospital Center in Israel to open a dermatology clinic there. In 1964, he founded the Science Summer Camp for gifted children in Israel at the Weizmann Institute, among other such contributions.

Lawless, one of the few Black millionaires of the 20th Century, continued working in both the realms of health and business up until his passing in May of 1971.

]]>http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/12/06/little-known-black-history-fact-ted-lawless/feed/0tedlawlessbawtonyapendletontedlawlessLittle Known Black History Fact: Ronald ‘Doc’ Satchelhttp://blackamericaweb.com/2016/12/05/little-known-black-history-fact-ronald-doc-satchel/
http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/12/05/little-known-black-history-fact-ronald-doc-satchel/#respondMon, 05 Dec 2016 05:00:50 +0000http://blackamericaweb.com/?p=577074The assassination of Chicago Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark happened 47 years ago on December 4, 1969. While Hampton and Clark’s murders were rightly front and center, the wounding of the Chicago Panthers’ Minister of Heath Ronald “Doc” Satchel is often forgotten.

Satchel, then 19, joined the organization after seeing the dynamic Hampton speak. Satchel was a key asset in the Panthers’ free breakfast program and was part of setting into motion a free medical care program with an emphasis on sickle-cell treatment. Satchel worked for Dr. Tolbert Small, who was the Oakland Panthers chapter’s physician. The health care program was a national program with the common aim of assisting poor people, especially those of color.

Satchel, a former University of Illinois student, was among others injured during the raid. Chicago police stormed Hampton’s apartment, which served as a base for Panthers operations. Brenda Harris, another former University of Illinois student, Blair Anderson and Verlina Brewer were all wounded. Satchel and Anderson’s injuries were reported to be especially serious at the time.

Not much information exists on Satchel’s life after the raid, although there are accounts that his injuries hampered him later in life. According to an obituary, Satchel continued to work on health initiatives with the Panthers.

The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was the first Black Greek letter organization on an intercollegiate level, and it celebrates its Founder’s Day this coming Sunday, December 4th. The “Seven Jewels” of the fraternity formed the organization in 1906 on the campus of Cornell University, and it has since spawned a star-studded list of notable members.

Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy formed the fraternity, originally a support and social group for Black students at the school. It then morphed into an organization focused on brotherhood, building character, promoting scholarship and empowerment.

Each of the Jewels have a history of stellar accomplishments. Callis, a physician, was the only Jewel to be a General President of the Alphas. He also established several Alpha chapters nationwide. Chapman went on to become a professor of agriculture at FAMU. Jones was the first Executive Director of the National Urban League and was part of President Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet.

Kelley was the first Black licensed engineer in New York, while Murray went on to a career in education and Ogle was a staff member of the United States House Committee on Appropriations. Lastly, Tandy was a talented architect who famously constructed the mansion of Madam C.J. Walker.

Varying accounts claim that the fraternity’s original founder was Charles Cardoza Poindexter, a professor at Fisk University. As a graduate student at Cornell, Poindexter organized a study group of literary students which included women. Poindexter viewed the collective as an asset to Black Americans at the time.

Poindexter was Alpha Phi Alpha’s first president creating many of the traditions that stand today. However, it still wasn’t considered a traditional fraternity until a vote by Murray. Poindexter’s presence was instrumental in the fraternity’s early formation, but Murray decided that after the he left the group that he should be considered a “Precursor” to the original Seven Jewels.

Notable members of the Alpha Phi Alpha span across a variety of industries and fields, with many members using the Jewels’ early example to focus on the concerns of African-Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young and Paul Robeson were part of this honored tradition. Entertainers like Dick Gregory, the late Donny Hathaway and Lionel Richie are also brothers. In media, Roland Martin and the late Stuart Scott are Alpha men as well.

Alpha Phi Alpha is the first of the “Divine Nine” Black fraternities and sororities that include:

Richard Pryor is, without doubt, one of the most influential stand-up comics of all time and was an inspiration to Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Mike Epps and others. Pryor would have been 76 today after his life was cut tragically short in 2005.

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was born in Peoria, Ill. and raised in his grandmother’s brothel. As seen in Pryor’s semi-autobiographical film, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, the future funnyman’s mother worked as a prostitute at the brothel. In Pryor’s real life, he turned to humor to cope with the struggles of his early childhood and was a noted class clown. Pryor never completed school, dropping out at 14 before a brief stint in the U.S. Army.

The ’60’s would prove fruitful for Pryor. A move to New York City helped propel his budding career. Pryor married his first wife, Patricia Price, in 1960 and had one child with her. The end of their union moved Pryor to pursue stand-up. He was greatly influenced by Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby and others, and his act led him to several television appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

Pryor’s natural charisma translated into small roles in films in the late ’60’s, and he released the first of his comedy albums in this period. A second marriage to Shelly Bonus ended in 1969 after the pair had a daughter. Pryor was an in-demand act across the country, though some of his comedy was censored. Frustrated, Pryor moved to Berkeley, Calif.

The ’70’s ushered in the era of even more success for Pryor, and his skills as both an actor and comedian blossomed. He starred in the Billie Holiday biopic, Lady Sings The Blues opposite Diana Ross in 1972. In 1974, Pryor won an Emmy Award for his work as a writer for The Lily Tomlin Show. During that time, Pryor was also a staff writer for Sanford and Son and The Flip Wilson Show.

Pryor became a box-office draw after starring in a bevy of films including Uptown Saturday Night, Silver Streak alongside the late Gene Wilder, and Greased Lightning, among several other hits. Pryor’s albums also sold well, and he earned five Grammy Awards over the course of his career. Despite the racy material found on his records, Pryor was brutally honest about his failed relationships, his substance abuse problems, and race in America as a whole.

In the ’80’s, Pryor continued to work but personal tragedies began to mount. In 1980, Pryor set himself on fire while using freebase cocaine and his drug troubles grew before he kicked the habit in the ’90’s. But by then, he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and his health slowly declined. While Pryor’s mind remained sharp as ever, the toll of the abuse of his body became too much. Pryor was 65 when he died on December 10, 2005, just days after his birthday.

Colonel Abrams as one of dance music’s most influential pioneers. House and dance music fans from around the globe joined in mourning one of its most notable legends who died last week.

Abrams was born in 1949 in Detroit, Mich., relocating to Manhattan at a young age with his family. Influenced by the Motown soul of his city of birth and the hard street rhythms and grit of New York, Abrams found a way to combine the two for his signature sound.

Alongside his brother Morris, Abrams formed the band Conservative Manor. He then fronted the 94 East band as its leader singer, which featured a young Prince on guitar ahead of his solo career fame. After 94 East dissolved, Abrams found footing as a club music staple in the ’80’s across New York and the United Kingdom. His first hit, “Music Is The Answer,” was released independently and helped Abrams get a deal with MCA.

Abrams’ self-titled major label debut featured his biggest hit, “Trapped,” which went on to hit big across Europe and is still considered a dance music’s classic. Abrams continued a streak of mild but charting hits well into the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, and maintained a busy tour schedule.

The turn of the century wasn’t as kind to Abrams. It was revealed last year that Abrams was suffering from diabetes and living on the streets. Efforts were made to rally around the singer but Abrams died at the age of 67 on Nov. 24.

A woman who says she is Abrams’ daughter-in-law has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help support his funeral costs.

Hockey has slowly been showing signs of racial diversity in the professional ranks, and that growth has occurred in both the men’s and women’s leagues. Two Black women players at the top of the collegiate class were recently drafted, with Kelsey Koelzer making history as the first Black woman ever to be drafted first by a top professional women’s team.

Koelzer, 21, is currently a senior defensewoman for the Princeton Tigers. The Horsham, Penn. native has won several awards on the collegiate level and has earned respect from others in her sport during her rise. The National Women’s Hockey League draft saw Koelzer go at the top after she was selected by the New York Rivers.

In a recent New York Times profile featuring her and fellow Black player, Wisconsin University senior forward Sarah Nurse, Koelzer said that racism in the sport has been a rare occurrence for her although she was called a slur during a stint on her high school’s boy’s team.

Nurse, also 21, has become one of the sport’s top scorers selected in the second round of the NWHL draft by the Boston Pride. Nurse, who hails from Hamilton, Ontario, has been a star in her native Canada and played for its national team in 2015.

Both players have recognized their rare positions in the sport, and hope to inspire other girls of color to take up the game.

The island nation of Cuba is both celebrating and mourning the death of longtime leader Fidel Castrothis weekend, a mixed reaction to the loss of one of the world’s most controversial figures. While Castro is viewed as both a dictator or a revolutionary, one of the hallmarks of his rise to power was his stance against racism and workplace discrimination in the island nation.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born August 13, 1926 in the Holguin Province of Cuba. His father was a wealthy sugar plantation owner who impregnated his first wife’s maid who later gave birth to Castro. After marrying his mistress, Castro’s father recognized him as his own and granted him his last name. A stellar student, Castro entered law school in the mid-40’s and began to involve himself into socialism and politics.

Castro’s became politically active in ’47 during the planned overthrow of right-wing Dominican Republic military leader Rafael Trujillo. The invasion was halted by Cuban president Ramon Grau, who Castro viewed as a corrupt leader. This inspired Castro to join the Leftist movement and he began speaking out against the economic equality in Cuba. He was also critical of the United States’ mining the island’s resources without fair trade.

Castro married into a wealthy family by taking Mirta Diaz Balart as a wife, despite her family’s opposition. After their son, Fidel was born in 1949, Castro’s activism increased after the military coup by former Cuban President Gen. Fulgenico Batista became the focus of the Cuban Revolution.

Like Argentina’s Che Guevara, Castro believed that the only way to end government corruption and the rise of dictatorships in Latin America was through bloody revolution. Several attacks on Batista’s government failed but Castro’s forces successfully overthrew Batista in 1958. Castro rose to power as the country’s prime minister in February 1959. He served in that role until 1976, then named himself president before stepping down due to failing health in 2006 with an official declaration taking place in 2008.

Under Castro, Cuba began to adopt many of the communist policies of the former Soviet Union giving Cubans across the board the same access to goods and services as others regardless of personal wealth. In 1959 at the Havana Labor Rally, Castro called out workplace discrimination against Afro-Cubans, demanding they have the same rights as white Cubans who viewed themselves as superior.

Castro also enacted a series of anti-discrimination laws and made education a top priority along with providing health care. Cuba is renowned for training doctors for free, including those from the U.S. who cannot afford medical school. Critics of Castro’s leadership say that while his aims seemed benevolent on the surface, it was a ruse to exact the government’s control over the Cuban people. Castro’s own daughter disagreed with his policies, and fled Cuba in 1993 to seek asylum in the United States.

However, Castro was seen as a hero and inspiration to world leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Bolivian President Evo Morales and to many Black revolutionaries and scholars who took inspiration from his ideology of activism, socialism and nationalism. But Castro’s totalitarian leadership also inspired a great deal of push back from human rights organizations, strained relationships with democratic countries and from Cubans suffering under the U.S. trade embargo.

[ione_media_gallery id="298469" overlay="true"]]]>http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/11/28/little-known-black-history-fact-fidel-castro/feed/2Fidel CastrobawtonyapendletonFILE - In this May 1, 2006 file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro speaks on International Workers Day in Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba. Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling U.S. trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died eight years after ill health forced him to formally hand power over to his younger brother Raul, who announced his death late Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, on state television. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)Little Known Black History Fact: Alexander Crummell’s Thanksgiving Day Speechhttp://blackamericaweb.com/2016/11/25/little-known-black-history-fact-alexander-crummells-thanksgiving-day-speech/
http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/11/25/little-known-black-history-fact-alexander-crummells-thanksgiving-day-speech/#respondFri, 25 Nov 2016 05:00:17 +0000http://blackamericaweb.com/?p=188829https://ioneblackamericaweb.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/112516lkbhf.mp3

On Thanksgiving day in 1875, Alexander Crummell, founder of the American Negro Academy, made a historic speech called “The Social Principle Among a People and Its Bearing on Their Progress and Development.” His goal was for Blacks to reflect on racial progress in America on Thanksgiving Day.

Crummell was born in New York in 1819, the grandson of a West African chief. He was educated by Quakers, thus leading to his strong religious ties and work in the Episcopal church. By 1853, Crummell had graduated from the Queens College in Cambridge.

As an Episcopalian priest, Crummell spent many years advocating the emigration of blacks to Africa and for African self-help. By 1873, he ran into opposition in Liberia and returned to Washington D.C. to work as a “missionary at large to the colored people.”

He published several articles in his lifetime: “The Future of Africa: Being Addresses, Sermons, etc. Delivered in the Republic of Liberia” (1862); “The Greatness of Christ and Other Sermons” (1882); and “Africa and America: Addresses and Discourses” (1891).

Twelve years before, President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday, despite opposition from Southern whites. Southern Blacks, however, observed the day as Lincoln intended. In his speech, Crummell dispelled the belief that Black people should forget their color to be progressive.

Crummell said: “The only place I know of in this land where you can forget you are colored is the grave!”

Crummell went on to say:

The people, as a body, seem delivered over to the same humble, servile occupations of life in which their fathers trod, because, from a lack of cooperation they are unable to step into the higher callings of business; and hence penury, poverty, inferiority, dependence, and even servility is their one general characteristic throughout the country, along with a dreadful state of mortality.

And the cause of this inferiority of purpose and of action is two-fold, and both the fault, to some extent, of unwise and unphilosophic leaders…..What this race needs in this country is power, the forces that may be felt. And that comes from character, and character is the product of religion, intelligence, virtue, family order, superiority, wealth, and the show of industrial forces. These are forces which we do not possess. We are the only class which, as a class, in this country, is wanting in these grand elements.

Charles P. Bailey Sr. was the first Black native of the state to fly for the elite Tuskegee Airmen. Bailey was one of nine siblings who served during the major wars of the 20th Century.

Bailey was born in 1919 in Punta Gorda, Fla., the youngest of seven boys who were collectively known as the “Fighting Bailey Brothers” who fought in World War II and the Korean War. Two of Bailey’s sisters also served. Ahead of WWII and his graduation from the all-Black Howard Academy in Ocala, he spent two years at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach before enlisting in the Army Air Corps.

On April 29, 1943, Bailey earned his wings and a second lieutenant’s bars after graduating from aviation cadet training from the Tuskegee Institute. The following month, the 99th Squadron headed to North Africa for a series of missions that were not initially combat-related.

Bailey was just one of 450 pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen group to see combat. He shot down German planes once in a P-40 Warhawk nicknamed Josephine after his mother and a P-51 Mustang plane he nicknamed “My Buddy” after his father. Bailey flew 133 missions across Europe and North Africa, earning an Air Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war, Bailey returned to Florida and completed his degree in elementary education. He married Bessie L. Fitch from his hometown and the couple eventually had two sons. The family relocated to DeLand, Fla. After years working in education, Bailey graduated from the Cincinnati College of Embalming and opened the Charles P. Bailey Funeral Home.

Bailey, who passed in 2001, was honored by the city of DeLand. A terminal at Punta Gorda’s airport is named after him and the rest of the Fighting Bailey family.

Will Marion Cook was an African-American composer who managed to create a series of successful Broadway plays and compositions in the late 19th Century. Cook and Paul Laurence Dunbar created the first all-Black play to open at a top Broadway house in 1898.

Cook was born January 27, 1869 in Washington, D.C. He studied violin at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 1884 – 1887 before studying abroad in Germany. Upon returning to the states, Cook began studying under Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, who also taught the legendary composer Harry Burleigh. Like Burleigh, Cook was fascinated with the structure and timing of Black music, most especially the negro spiritual.

Cook and Dunbar’s play was completed in 1898 and had a successful run at the Casino Theatre’s Roof Garden, one of Broadway’s well-known performance venues at the time. The play was titled Clorindy or The Origin of the Cakewalk and was an immediate success. It was Cook’s first composed score and led to him becoming the first Black composer to conduct a white theater orchestra. Cook married Clorindy lead actress Abbie Mitchell and the couple had two children, Will and Marion.

Cook began working with a Black comedy troupe, Williams and Walker Company, and on musical comedies for other productions. It was Cook’s score for the WWC that cemented him as one of the century’s brightest stars. Cook became such a force in music that he even performed in England for King George V.

After a long and slowly declining career, Cook released his last work in 1929. He passed in Harlem in 1944.

The music world lost one of its most powerful vocalists in Sharon Jones of the Dap-Kings last Friday. While some might say she found fame late in life, for her fans, she was right on time.

Jones was born May 4, 1956 in Augusta, Ga. the youngest of six children. Her mother was a childhood friend of the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, whose music influenced Jones and her siblings. She and her family relocated to New York and the future singer attended school at Brooklyn College. Jones honed her voice in the church and in a series of funk and soul bands in the 1970s and was a frequent face at local talent shows.

Jones worked several jobs, including a stint as a Rikers Island corrections officer among them. Her big break came in 1996 after being discovered by Gabriel Roth, the founder of Brooklyn’s Daptone Records. After trying for years to break into the music business, Daptones surrounded Jones with a backing band that could match her dynamic ability.

In 2002, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings made their official debut with the album, Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Coupled with Jones’ energetic stage performances straight from James Brown’s playbook, the Dap-Kings solidified their place among the funk and soul greats.

Jones battled pancreatic cancer for years, but even in some of her weakest moments physically, she remained the ultimate performer. In 2012, the band’s sixth album, Give The People What They Want, earned Jones a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. The band released their final album, It’s A Holiday Soul Part, in 2015.

Mary Munson Runge was the first woman, African-American and employee community pharmacist to become president of the American Pharmacy Association, ending a 126-year run of white men in the role. Mrs. Runge’s commitment to increasing diversity in membership ranks was fueled by her father’s devotion to the poor and disenfranchised.

Runge was born in 1928 in Donaldsville, La., where her father was the town’s first pharmacist. Using his considerable wealth and influence, Runge’s father helped the town’s poor residents obtain necessary medicine for their needs.

After graduating from Xavier University in 1948, Runge moved to California and worked in the Bay Area as a hospital pharmacist for 21 years. She then began working for a community practice that helped poor residents obtain medicine, just as her father did.

In 1979, Runge was named AphA’s president and used the platform to increase women and minority membership, serving two terms that ended in 1981. She continued her stellar work, all while raising a family, becoming a grandmother and a mentor to other pharmacists.

Runge passed in 2014, and the AphA honored her by establishing a scholarship in her name that is awarded annually to AphA student members.

Janie L. Miles made her mark on military history by becoming the first Black woman to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. Miles went on to a stellar career in business after ending her time with the U.S. Navy.

Born in 1958 in Aiken, S.C., the 1976 Aiken High School graduate and honor student was appointed by Congressman Butler Derrick that same year. In 1975, legislation was passed that mandated United States military academies admit women. Miles was the only Black woman among the first group of women to enter the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. She graduated from the Academy in 1980 at the age of 22 with a degree in Engineering, and served her country in a variety of support and logistical roles.

After leaving the Navy, Miles was awarded a fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Business Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After earning her master’s degree from the school, Miles worked in management positions with several high-profile companies such as Hershey, Pepsi, and Proctor and Gamble. In the early 2000s, Miles founded her Boys To Men Club, Inc. in Fort Hill, S.C. The organization aimed its efforts at supported disadvantaged youth in Miles’ home state.

Miles has also served as a speaker for Navy events and takes pride that her historic achievement serves as an inspiration for women of color and beyond.

Agbani Darego became the first native African to be crowned Miss World on this day in 2001. While other African nation-based models have won the coveted title, the women were not of African descent.

Ms. Darego was born December 22, 1983 in Lagos State, Nigeria, as one of eight children. After the passing of her mother, Darego kept her dream of becoming a model intact despite resistance from her conservative father. While attending the University of Port Hartcourt, Darego became a fixture at local pageants and won a handful of them. In 2001, she became known to an international audience when she won the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria contest.

That same year in the Miss Universe pageant, Darego was the first Nigerian become a top-10 finalist. Later that year, the Miss World contest came around. Darego easily vanquished her competition for the title. In her year-long reign, Darego signed with Donald Trump’s management company and landed contracts with top agencies like Ford Models and Next Model Management. As a result, Darego became just the second Black woman to sign a contract with L’Oreal, after Miss America Vanessa Williams.

Darego has used her fame to promote causes in her native country such as the elimination of communicable disease. She also started a clothing line and completed a psychology degree at New York University in 2012. Modeling is still very much a centerpiece of Darego’s life, but these days, she mostly serves as a pageant judge and consultant. Some publications list Darego as the first sub-Saharan African to win the title as well.

Grenada’s Jennifer Hosten is the first Black woman or woman of African descent to win the Miss World title in 1970.

Gwen Ifill was a pioneering Black journalist, providing a role model for young Blacks aspiring to media careers, especially women. Ms. Ifill succumbed to her battle with cancer Monday at the age of 61, prompting a nation to mourn one of its most respected journalists.

Ifill was born September 29, 1955 in New York City to a Panamanian-Barbadian minister father and a Barbadian mother. Her father’s ministry carried her and her siblings up and down the Eastern Seaboard while living humbly in church parsonages and in federally subsidized housing.

After graduating from Boston’s Simmons College in 1977 with a degree in communications, Ifill embarked on a print journalism career with stops at The Baltimore Evening Sun,The Washington Post and the New York Times. She quickly gained a reputation as a tenacious reporter who asked tough questions, which served her well in the next and most notable phase of her career.

In 1999, Ifill started hosting her own political news show, PBS’ Washington Week in Review program. It was then where Ifill cut her teeth as a host who dug into her guests and voiced her disagreements with authority. When the show was renamed Washington Week, she remained its host and managing editor.

Alongside Judy Woodruff, Ifill became part of the first all-female news anchor in 2013 with PBS Newshour, a show she also anchored alone on Friday nights. Ifill made history once more when she became the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Ifill also authored a book in 2009 titled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

President Obama shared his condolences from the White House on Monday, calling Ifill a “powerful role model.”

Modjeska Monteith Simkins left her mark in the history books of Columbia, South Carolina by fighting for public health reform for Black families and aligning herself with the civil rights movement. Simkins emerged as a leader at a time where women were largely ignored for their efforts.

Born December 5, 1899 as the first of eight children, Simkins was raised on a farm just outside of Columbia as a result of her father’s troubled childhood. Henry Monteith, a brick mason, was a mixed-race child of a white man and a former slave. In order to protect his family from the harshness of racism in the Deep South, the farm served as a refuge. Simkins’ mother was an educator.

After graduating from Benedict College in 1921, Simkins began teaching at Booker T. Washington High School. After marrying Andrew Simkins in 1929, she lost her job as the state didn’t allow married women to teach. From there, Simkins entered the world of public health by working for the state’s Tuberculosis Association and became its Director of Negro Work in 1931. She was the state’s only Black public health worker and a vocal advocate for reform in that arena.

She was let go from the Association in 1942, due in part to her increasing involvement with the local NAACP chapter. The Columbia NAACP was established in 1939, and by 1941, Simkins had already became secretary of the state conference in 1941 holding the post for 16 years. In that time, Simkins also became an instrumental figure in the teacher equalization lawsuits across the state.

In 1950, the South Carolina federal court case, Briggs v. Elliot, would prove to be one of Simkins’ most significant moments. It would become one of several nationwide racial equalization cases that would challenge the “Separate But Equal” doctrine in the United States Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Simkins’ outspoken nature and swift criticism of both her detractors and allies gained her quite the reputation across South Carolina. As with most Black figures who rose to prominence then, suspicions arose that Simkins was involved with Communism. Simkins did indeed count members of the Communist Party as allies but was herself not a member. But this loose association with Communists cost Simkins her position as secretary of the NAACP’s South Carolina conference.

This did little to deter Simkins, as she began working with Southern Conference Educational Fund holding leadership positions for several organizations normally reserved for men. Simkins worked well into her 80s on behalf of South Carolinians and was honored in 1990 with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.

A booklet by Becci Robbins and the S.C. Progressive Network Education Fund titled Modjeska Monteith Simkins – A South Carolina Revolutionary” offers details of Simkins’ activism and other facts, including her founding the first Black-owned bank in South Carolina.

When Zena Stephens officially swears in at the Jackson County Sheriff in Texas, she will become the first Black woman elected to the role in state history. Stephens beat out a Republican rival in a tight race, and expects there will be tough challenges ahead.

Little information on Stephens’ personal life exists online but what is known is that she is the current chief of police for Prairie View A&M University and has worked previously in the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in the past. She held her celebration speech in Beaumont at a well-known soul food spot and jazz bar, where her husband, Darrell, greeted her with a bouquet of roses.

Stephens edged out her white male Republican opponent, Ray Beck, in a hard-fought battle that went down to the wire. There is still some holdup on when Stephens will be officially confirmed, as Beck is challenging the election results.

Stephens said she realizes the importance of her election as she felt she didn’t have anyone to look up when she was a young girl. She hopes to inspire other minority girls by way of her example.

On this day in 1960, history was made when Andrew Hatcher was named the associate press secretary by President John F. Kennedy. Hatcher was also a founding member of 100 Black Men of America.

Mr. Hatcher was born June 19, 1923 in Princeton, N.J. As a student at Massachusetts’ Springfield College in the early ’40’s, Hatcher interrupted his studies to join the U.S. Army during the Second World War. After serving three years, Hatcher returned to school, but records are difficult to obtain regarding his completion although he was a member of the school’s alumni council.

Hatcher’s career path took him to Northern California where he worked as a reporter for a Black newspaper, The San Francisco Sun-Reporter. Before long, Hatcher shifted from journalism to politics, working extensively with the Democratic Party. He was appointed to then California governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown’s Cabinet as an assistant secretary of labor.

Hatcher was hired as a speechwriter for New York governor Adlai Stevenson during his pair of failed runs for president in the ’50’s. The move to the East Coast came with an unexpected perk. Hatcher’s friend Pierre Salinger joined the Kennedy presidential campaign and brought Hatcher along, making him the first African-American to serve in the White House press office. Hatcher role was to help Kennedy navigate the icy relationship between whites and Blacks in America at the time.

Hatcher was met with criticism from both the African-American community and white Democrats who believed he didn’t have the experience necessary for the job. Yet Hatcher maintained a personal life and was a father of seven with ambitions outside of politics. In 1963, he was one of the co-founders for the 100 Black Men of America organization.

Little is known about Hatcher’s career after Kennedy’s tragic assassination in 1963. Reports indicate that he was working as an executive doing business with South Africa in the late ’70’s, but that was looked down upon by his peers due to the African nation’s racist apartheid policy.

Toni Cade Bambara was an educator, author, and community activist who was one of the leading voices of the Black feminist movement in the early ’70’s. Ms. Bambara’s works include short stories, anthologies, and screenplays that documented varying levels of the Black experience.

Bambara was born Miltona Mirkin Cade on March 25, 1939 in Harlem, N.Y. She was raised across the city and in New Jersey eventually earning an undergraduate degree in the arts and theater from Queens College. She picked up the surname Bambara after sifting through her grandfather’s belongings.

In 1964, Bambara earned a master’s from City College and began a career in teaching at several levels. In 1965 she taught English at the City University of New York’s SEEK program, which was aimed at helping disadvantaged youth. From there, Bambara taught at Livingston College along with stints at Rutgers University, Emory University and Atlanta University.

Bambara’s writing career began in 1970 with the publishing of the anthology, The Black Woman, which was the first collection of writing featuring Black feminists. Nikki Giovanni, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde and Bambara herself contributed pieces to the book. In 1972, Bambara published the first of her fictional works, a collection of short stories titled Gorilla, My Love.

While Bambara’s writings have been considered feminist in nature, she never completely embraced that title. In the 1981 anthology The Bridge Called My Back for which she wrote the introduction, a chapter in the book “On The Issue of Roles” she rejects the term feminism and instead asks for a focus on “blackhood.”

In the latter part of her career, Bambara focused more on screenplays and visual works, but first novel The SaltEaters was published in 1980. She also wrote the script for Louis Messiah’s film on the 1985 bombing of the MOVE headquarters. Bambara was also one of four directors who worked on a documentary about W.E.B. Du Bois.

When Bambara succumbed to colon cancer in 1995, she had several works in process. The following year, Toni Morrison edited Bambara’s Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions, a collection of short stories. In 2013, Bambara was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

Octavius V. Catto was a prominent civil rights activist and educator in Philadelphia who tragically lost his life on Election Day in 1871 while exercising his right to vote. Catto, like many Blacks at the time, was a supporter of the Republican Party and met the violent opposition of Irish immigrants who supported the Democratic Party.

Catto was born February 22, 1839 to a free mother and a former slave father in Charleston, S.C. His father became a well-known Presbyterian minister, moving his family north to give them greater opportunity. Catto was educated at the Institute for Colored Youth, which is now known as Cheyney University. After studying in Washington, D.C., Catto returned home and taught at ICY.

During a Confederate Army invasion in 1863, Catto organized and helped train volunteer troops to head off enemy forces. During this period, Catto founded the Banneker Literary Institute and the Pennsylvania Equal Rights League. He also worked alongside activists such as Frederick Douglass and others, and was a supporter of getting a 1867 state law passed that ended the racial segregation of public transportation.

On October 10, 1871, Catto was teaching in the city as widespread skirmishes were occurring between White Irish immigrants and Blacks. During the Reconstruction Era, many Blacks supported the Republican agenda and enjoyed perceived perks because of their loyalty to the party. Pennsylvania ratified the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that year.

Irish immigrants felt slighted in some fashion and threw their partisan support behind the Democratic agenda by enacting a terror campaign against Black residents. It was rumored that Catto knew of the risk he faced by going to the polls and was thus armed, yet Irishman Frank Kelly still took it upon himself to gun down the teacher and activist in cold blood.

Kelly escaped but was found six years later in Chicago. He faced trial and despite white and Black eyewitnesses pegging him as Catto’s killer, an all-white jury acquitted him of the crime.

Catto was a beloved figure and his funeral was attended by thousands. In 1906, the never married Catto had Philadelphia’s O.V. Lounge named after him. In 2007, the Octavius Catto Memorial Fund erected a headstone at his gravesite in Collingdale, Pa.

Audiences were introduced to an all-Black, all-female quartet of actresses with the debut of the bank robbery thriller, Set It Off. The film, directed by Straight Outta Compton’s F. Gary Gray, made its debut 20 years ago on Nov. 6, 1996, and helping to propel the careers of its leading ladies.

Starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise,Set It Off is based in Los Angeles and follows the story of Fox’s Frankie character. Early in the film, Frankie is fired from her job as a bank teller after her branch is robbed because she knows the suspect. After losing her job, she joins her best friends who are working on a cleaning crew.

Latifah’s Cleo and Frankie hatch a plot to rob banks and start a new life for themselves outside the housing projects. Smith’s Stoney and Elise’ T.T. are initially reluctant but go along but agree once the group faces a series of setbacks. After Frankie’s brother is wrongfully gunned down, she and Cleo convince the rest of the group to get into the bank robbery business.

The film, also starring Blair Underwood, was made on a $9 million budget and made a respectable $41 million at the box office. Smith, Fox, Latifah and the then largely unknown Elise, in her first feature film, would all go on to thriving careers, along with former music video director Gray, for whom this was his second film.

The accompanying soundtrack, featuring Brandy, Queen Latifah, En Vogue Busta Rhymes, Chaka Khan and MC Lyte, among others, went platinum that same year. The soundtrack’s big hit “Don’t Let Go (Love)” which went to #2 on the Billboard charts, was Dawn Robinson’s last with the group and the group’s last Top Ten song.

According to a 2015 interview, Smith initially wanted the role of Cleo.

The phrase “Black is Beautiful” has long been associated with the civil rights and Black power movements but it has roots that reach even further back. John Stewart Rock, one of the America’s first Black doctors and lawyers, is said to have coined the phrase in one of his speeches as an abolitionist.

Rock was born October 13, 1825 in Salem, N.J. to free parents. School was a luxury for both whites and Blacks, but the Rock family rallied around their son, helping him get the education he needed to become a teacher at age 19. But Rock had greater plans and began studying medicine under the guidance of two white doctors.

Medical school acceptance proved to be a challenge due to his race, but the American Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania allowed him to study there. After graduating in 1852, Rock moved to Boston to open a practice and teach night school for African-Americans. An abolitionist group, Vigilance Committee, hired Rock to treat escaped slaves and serve as their educator.

The abolitionist movement produced many fine speakers and Rock was of that longstanding tradition. Rock traveled across New England as part of the National Equal Rights League that counted Frederick Douglass as a member. In 1855, Rock joined an effort in Boston to desegregate public schools. In his speeches and writings, Rock did speak of the “inherent beauty” of Black people and was a strong proponent of Black self-improvement and empowerment.

In the late 1850’s, Rock’s health began to fade and he sailed to France to get advanced care. He was advised to retire from speaking and travel, and although he cut back his medical practice and dental practice, he studied law.

In 1861, Rock becoming one of the first Black lawyers admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. In 1865, as the first Black lawyer admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court.

Rock fell ill with the common cold in 1866 after several health setbacks and died in December at the age of 41. On Rock’s tombstone, the record of his admittance to the Supreme Court is noted.